The invention relates generally to jewelry, and more particularly to a two-piece earring.
One of the problems associated with the design and manufacture of earrings is the provision of means for securing the earring on the earlobe of the wearer so as to minimize the risk of accidental loss, while also enabling convenient attachment and removal of the earring by the wearer. An early example of an attempt to solve this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 421,433, which describes a wire for insertion through the opening of a pierced ear, a pivoted locking bar provided with an eye for engaging the ear wire, and a pivoting keeper mounted on the locking bar. Other proposals are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 251,068 and 790,965.
Two considerations limit the practicality of some proposed mechanisms. First, the earring must be relatively light, because it is supported entirely by the wearer's earlobe, and accordingly the mechanism should not add greatly to the weight of the earring. Second, the mechanism should be relatively simple. If the mechanism requires a great deal of precision to manufacture or is complex with several moving parts, its cost may make it commercially impractical. It is a general object of the invention to provide a lightweight, reliable mechanism for securely maintaining an earring on the wearer's earlobe, while permitting relatively simple attachment and detachment.
A further object of the invention is to provide an earring having an upper member which is attached directly to the ear, and a lower member which is releasably attachable to the upper member. While such an earring is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,561, the earring disclosed therein relies on two separate mechanisms, one to secure the earring to the wearer's earlobe and the other to secure the detachable lower member to the upper member. It is an object of the invention to provide a single mechanism for achieving both of these functions which is simpler and easier to operate than the mechanisms of U.S. Pat. No. 2,797,561.